Friday, December 30, 2011

Here is a minor update on the interior of my RE-FRESH ER34. Remember the old boot? Well, that is gone now. As ER34 is going on a full diet, the whole boot had been stripped off and replaced with a simple layout. The job is again done by my usual workshop, AutoSmart at Serusop.

Instead of using black carpet, they used grey carpet to match the original interior color. Rockford Fostgate amp relocated to the left side of the boot.

This is the old boot layout. It was very heavy due to the heavy uses of plywood and perspex glass.

Overall I am very happy with the job done by AutoSmart. Re-fresh ER34 interior is very near to completion. The only thing left now is the ProSport Gauges that I bought recently. Once that is installed, the interior will be 100% completed!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Today I had a minor shock of my life! What happened? Well, the Porsche key above wasn't working! I tried to unlock the car remotely and it wasn't responding. I tried to open both boots remotely and they weren't working either. So the first thing came to my mine was the Key probably ran out of battery juice. I was too lazy to go back up to my room as I was in a hurry to work so was too lazy to go back up my room to swap another key.

So I manually opened the door and went straight to work. When I reached my shop, I also took out the Owners Manual and had a good read before I made any judgment of what is wrong with the key.

So what happened? To my surprises, nothing is wrong with both my keys and car. After reading one section of the Owners Manual, it stated if the vehicle is not started or unblocked with the remote control within seven days, the remote control standby function will be switched off to save the vehicle battery! Cool function! I also didn't realize this car has not been pamper for 1 week....LOL

So to get the remote control function to switch on I simply insert the key to the ignition key(above) and hold the lock/unlock button for 5 seconds(below pic). And BAM! The remote function is working again..haha!

We all know tinting window is illegal in Brunei and for us who are born in Brunei, will know the scotching heat during the day! The only alternative is DOOR BLINDS!!! Well door blinds are also illegal in Brunei but not the one that is fitted by the factory!

We were in joy when were told this car have four door blinds fitted because we knew we will need that blinds for our little baby who will be seating in his child seat next to the window!

Door blind can be pull up and down

Door Blinds for 3rd row passengers!

ADDITIONAL PASSENGER MIRROR

This is another neat features, a second mirror just above the rear view mirror. It's job is to have access view to the passengers sitting behind. This is very useful when you have kids. You can see what they are doing and also make sure everything is in order!. LOL

PEUGEOT PARKING ASSISTANCE

This
is another great feature that caught my attention. What this does is assist you on parallel parking space. By assist I mean the system will tell you whether
the parking spot can fit the Peugeot 5008. Check out my demonstration
below!

The Peugeot Parking Assistance button located near the steering coloumn. Engaged it.....

.....and a ">P<" will appear in the instrumental panel.....

Here
are two parking spot that I found in Kiulap as shown in the arrow below. One is between the white and red car. And
the other is the red and the blue car.

All I need to do now is signal to the left to fully activated the system and just drive across the parking spot. The
sensor located in the parking sensor will measure the length between
each car and will tell you whether it is OK for you to park.

Like the
space between the white and red car. It is too small and the
instrumental screen will appear "PARKING:NO"

The parking space between the red car and blue car is park-able but will be tight. The screen will show "PARKING:DIFFICULT". So, if you are
skillful in your parking, you can give it a try. LOL

So if the parking is big enough it will just simply show "PARKING:OK". Get it? Hehe ^_^

BLUETOOTHI don't need to explain much as you all know what this is. Most modern car has this as a standard feature except my Porsche Boxster S :( Amazing isn't it? You pay so much for a Porsche and yet Bluetooth is not a standard feature. It will cost me $1800 to option that in my Boxster!!!!

PORSCHE TIPTRONIC

6 SPEED SEMI-AUTO

Yeap, this Peugeot 5008 has some PORSCHE DNA in it. The gearbox you are looking at is designed and engineered with Porsche. It is a 6-speed semi-automatic or what Porsche called it "Tiptronic"

BI-XENON DIRECTIONALHEADLIGHTS SYSTEM
Yeap, those headlamps are fitted with Bi-Xenon as standard!!! I paid $3000++ similar system for the Porsche Boxster!

What is Directional headlights system? Put it down in simple term, during night time when the HID headlights is activated, the car headlight system will swirl to the same direction you are turning. The advantage is make sure maximum visibility during cornering.

ENGINE
Last but not least will be the engine, although it is not a important preferences but it does give us the plus point when choosing this car.

The Peugeot 5008 is fitted with 1.6litre THP engine. THP stands for Turbo High pressure and it has a twin scroll turbocharger producing 156hp with 240Nm@1400rpm. The engine is not lightning fast but is just right for a MPV. The turbo really help when overtaking car!

OK, there you go ladies and gentlemen. Our reasons or points why we bought this Peugeot 5008. There are still some plus points but I think it is not worth the mentioning. I hope this help you guys if you are thinking of getting this car or the same brand!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

When we bought the Peugeot 5008, lots of people asked me "Why you get this car? Why not Honda Odyssey?" or "Peugeot? Good kan???" or "Wah that price you can get so many new cars!" or "For that price why didn't you get used Toyota Veillfire?"

Firstly, I am a car guy, so I know what I am doing when I am out there searching for a new car and so I don't need people to tell me "Waaahhh you can buy a Honda Odyssey!" Secondly, Bruneian has this perception that Peugeot is unreliable. Local buyer tend to listen to what people has to say but never actually research about it. Thirdly, me and my wife strictly want an European car and has to be brand new because the interest on second hand car loan is simply too unrealistic.

So, less talk now and lets get started on what really make me choose the PEUGEOT 5008.

PANORAMIC ROOF

This is the first thing that caught my eye when we checked out on the 5008. I always said to my wife that I never in my life had bought a car with a sunroof yet. So this was the car first buying point.

Panoramic roof located near the gear console

My son loves it when we open the sunblind! And yes this is a full length roof and is huge!

H.U.D

HEADS UP DISPLAY

The second buying point is the HUD. Not many car in Brunei market has this option as standard because they cost a bomb. The only car I can remember having this feature is the new BMW M5. Though most of the Peugeot models imported by T.C.Y has this option as standard including the 3008 and 407.

HUD will auto slid out when you turn the ignition on and vise versa when the ignition is turn off

The controls for the HUD

HUD in action

It show you the speed, cruise control, speed limited and how far the car in front is ahead of you

Sample view taken on Internet

7 Seaters and Boot Space

All the car that we went checking cannot do one job. BOOT SPACE! All of them were either too small or simply cannot fit my baby stroller. This is the only one car that has a space big enough for my baby stroller and still got tons of space for shopping within our budget. By the way, the baby stroller is not your typical stroller, it really is huge!

The boot with 3rd row seats folded down

Now to unfold the seats back

All you need to do is just pull one level! Easy!

WA-LA! Seats are back!

I personally tried the 3rd row seat and to be honest it still seat me comfortably(btw, I am 185cm tall!) .

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Today I noticed two things on both my Peugeot 5008 and Porsche Boxster S, both of them just rack in 18000km mileage this week.

In case you didn't know, Porsche Boxster S was purchased on Jan 2010 and the Peugeot 5008 was just 8 months ago on April 2011.

From the mileage you can tell Boxster S is hardly driven. On the other hand, the Peugeot 5008 in less then 8 months already put in 18000km, and is now our full-time daily driven car. There is not one day in the week that this car is not driven! LOL

Introduction

Hey there! Welcome to Brunei-ER34 Blog! I am from a happy small kingdom called Brunei located somewhere in Borneo Island. This blog is specially created for my rides that I currently have in my stables. I am an extreme car enthusiast. Interested in all kinds of automotive such as JDM, European, Classic, HotRods and American Muscle. As a car enthusiastic, cars is way more then just transportation, it is an extension of one style and personality.

Please enjoy viewing and reading of my cars and project cars by clicking the picture of each models below. This blog also cover cool cars and new car releases in Brunei. So enjoy!